FASHION ALERT: Whom You Know Kicks Off Coverage of Barbie by Mattel! In Our Inaugural Post We Celebrate the History of Barbie, Her Fashionology and Beauty Secrets and Designers She Has Worked With! Doesn't She Look Great For Being Born in 1959? From Little Girls to Collectors, Women All Over the World Have Adored Barbie for Decades.
It's not who you know, it's Whom You Know and we are thrilled to now professionally know Barbie. Peachy first learned of Barbie at age 3 or 4 with a Skipper doll given to her by her dad, so Barbie could be the brand we cover that we have known the longest.
Barbie® doll– Barbara Millicent Roberts– was “born” on March 9, 1959, in (fictional) Willows, Wisconsin. First introduced as the original Teenage Fashion Model, Barbie doll has since had close to 150 careers, represented more than 40 different nationalities and collaborated with more than 75 different fashion designers. With one Barbie doll sold every 3 seconds somewhere in the world, Barbie remains the world’s most popular doll and a powerhouse brand among girls of all ages. Whom You Know will be sharing with you the latest and greatest from Barbie in upcoming posts, and we are especially excited to announce that there is now an ENTREPRENEUR BARBIE, which is what we have always wanted! She sets a great example for little girls everywhere who will one day open their own business and light up the Wall Street Journal.
Through the decades, the Barbie brand has evolved with girls, extending into entertainment, online and more than 45 different consumer products categories.
With a large social media presence on Twitter, YouTube and Facebook, Barbie is everywhere girls are today.
“My whole philosophy of Barbie was that through the doll, the little girl could be anything she wanted to be. Barbie always represented the fact that a woman has choices.”
- Ruth Handler (creator of the Barbie doll), on being inspired by her young daughter Barbara’s fascination with teenage life and love for fashion dolls.
Ruth and Elliot Handler founded Mattel Creations in 1945, and 14 years later, Ruth Handler gave the world the Barbie doll. When asked her relationship to Barbie, Ruth simply replied, "I'm Barbie's mom."
The inspiration for Barbie came as Ruth watched her daughter Barbara playing with paper dolls. Barbara and her friends used them to play adult or teenage make-believe, imagining roles as college students, cheerleaders and adults with careers. Ruth immediately recognized that experimenting with the future from a safe distance through pretend play was an important part of growing up. She also noticed a product void and was determined to fill that niche with a three-dimensional fashion doll.
Several years and many designs later, Mattel introduced Barbie, the Teen-Age Fashion Model, to skeptical toy buyers at the annual Toy Fair in New York on March 9, 1959. Never before had they seen a doll so completely unlike the baby and toddler dolls popular at the time.
Today, with a professional resume thicker than a phonebook, a circle of friends that rival any social network and a community of caring that spans the globe, Barbie continues to find new ways to inspire and encourage the next generation of girls.
Fashionology & Beauty Secrets
Barbie makes haute hot and couture cool. She is unapologetically all girl. And, did we mention that she’s the most popular fashion doll in the world? But all that fame hasn’t gone to Barbie’s legendary coiffed head. She is still the same fun fashionista she’s always been since she broke into the fashion spotlight in 1959.
So, what exactly does it take to create and maintain this fashion icon that is Barbie? From designers who have graduated from the top fashion schools, to professional makeup artists and cosmetologists, to the world’s most elite couturiers, it takes more than 100 people to create one single Barbie outfit and look.
More than 1 billion fashions and 1 billion pairs of shoes have been produced since 1959 for Barbie® doll and her friends. 105 million yards of fabric have gone into making Barbie® and her friends’ fashions, making Mattel one of the largest apparel manufacturers in the world.
FASHIONOLOGY
The creation of Barbie’s sensational apparel truly mirrors that of today’s most prestigious fashion houses.
With Barbie as their muse, it’s easy to see why designers graduating from Parsons and FIT, as well as those who’ve worked under names like Isaac Mizrahi, join the Barbie team as real designers.
Like their counterparts in Paris and New York, fashion designers for Barbie sketch new concepts and bring their drawings to life using muslin fabric and Barbie-sized rubber mannequins. After several “fittings,” they work with pattern makers and textilers to finalize their vision.
Each outfit may be altered several times before a final look is sent to hundreds of seamstresses. No room for error! If stitching is off by even 1/16 of an inch, it can be a design miss.
No look is complete without the right accessories. Everything from earrings to shoes are sketched by hand and sculpted in wax to create 3-D models. Once approved by the lead designer accessories are produced and “dressed” on Barbie doll.
BEAUTY SECRETS
Barbie isn’t just another pretty face– she actually has a lot of pretty faces– seven different skin tones to be exact. And, with a team of talented hair stylists and makeup artists, the beauty of Barbie is constantly refined so she’s always picture perfect.
Barbie’s hair comes in seven different shades of blonde, woven together in various combinations to achieve highlights or lowlights. Her legendary locks are rooted with a special sewing machine called a “Dolly” and then professionally trimmed and styled, strand by strand, to create today’s chic-est styles. After her hair is rooted, brushed and styled, Barbie is placed in a customized heating machine to set her hairstyle– much like how a dome hair dryer is used in hair salons.
What’s in her beauty bag?
Barbie’s hair is styled with hair gel exclusively formulated for her.
Barbie’s best hair tool is a paintbrush and water, perfect for flyaway hairs for close-up headshots.
Bad hair day? Even Barbie gets tangled up. A light conditioner and water does the trick to manage her mane.
A true fashionista never leaves her house without makeup and the same goes for the most well-known fashionista of them all. When creating a new Barbie face (a prototype to be put into production), up to 10 fine artists work on Barbie doll’s face using water-based acrylics and tiny sable brushes to paint one of the most widely- recognized faces in the world.
It’s all about blending. Every color used on Barbie doll’s face is applied in thin “washes” so no brush mark is obvious. The process takes up to 3 hours. Although Barbie is known for her vibrant and colorful makeup, brown is still her favorite eye shadow and worn the most frequently. In fact, Barbie has more than 100 different shades of brown in her beauty kit.
Designers
She may be just under a foot tall but she’s big in the fashion community. Barbie boasts five decades of fashion heritage, working with more fashion designers than any other brand in the world.
Barbie® has collaborated with more than 75 different fashion designers and has served as creative inspiration to more than 150 famous designers.
The first designer partnership with the Barbie® brand was a collaboration with Oscar de la Renta in the mid-1980s.
Bob Mackie was the first of many famous designers to collaborate with Barbie® on a collector doll in 1990.
In 2009, Barbie® partnered with Christian Louboutin to unveil a collection of dolls and shoes – the shoes were available in both Barbie-size and life size!
50 designers created looks for Barbie® doll’s first-ever runway show at New York Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in 2009.
Barbie® broke records for the Estée Lauder Companies as the cover model and inspiration for the MAC Cosmetics Spring Collection, “Barbie™ Loves MAC.”
Barbie® has her very own fine jewelry line designed by Layna and Alan Friedman called Barbie™ Rocks.
From Calvin to Cartier, Gucci to Galliano, Versace to Vera, they all have something to say about Barbie:
"Barbie represents a confident and independent woman with an amazing ability to have fun while remaining glamorous."
- Diane von Furstenberg
"Barbie has been a cherished fashion phenomenon for five decades, so it was exciting to be able to dress her in one of my signature gowns."
- Monique Lhuillier
"It's been my honor to dress some of the most glamorous women in the world and Barbie is certainly among the ultimate 'It' girls!”
- Patricia Field
“I started dressing Barbie dolls with my own designs at an early age.”
- Anna Sui
"As a little girl, I spent countless hours playing with my Barbie dolls, even designing and sewing one-of-a-kind outfits for the doll. I guess you could say Barbie gave me my start as a designer."
- Cynthia Rowley
